camping spots

This expansion is 'in tents'
B.C. to provide more campsites
By Chris Woodall
Camping's "in tents" experience is going to get better thanks to a provincial plan to add 504 campsites this year.
Nairn Falls and Alice Lake provincial parks north and south of Whistler will get more campsites as part of a government plan to add 1,500 campsites by the end of 1999.
Work will start on building sites by this fall, says John Tisdale, Garibaldi district recreation officer, adding 20 sites each to Nairn Falls and Alice Lake.
Of the 20 for Nairn Falls — located beside Highway 99 a few kilometres south of Pemberton — a dozen will accommodate group camping while another half-dozen or so will be set among existing campsites to create new spots or double the size of current sites to handle vehicles.
"We still have to look at where the sites will be and how we will create them," Tisdale says.
Nairn Falls provincial park features an easy hiking trail along the Green River that leads to a spectacular S-shaped falls.
At Alice Lake, sites will be split between infill locations and creating walk-ins to individual sites along trails.
Parks staff may wait until mid-winter to work on the Alice Lake sites because the park, located north of Squamish near Brackendale, doesn't get a lot of snow.
Another consideration when picking a start date for the new campsites is when the government will filter the money to hire workers down to the district.
Parks designated for added campsites were chosen because of their popularity and ease of access, the government says.
"Clearly the family camping experience is many young people's introduction to outdoor recreation pursuits," says Doug Leavers, chair of the Outdoor Council of B.C.
It's also cheap.
Rates are $9.50 a night for each "party" — one family or four people.
In 1997, 2.7 million visits were made to B.C. park campgrounds with 23.8 million visits to parks in general.